The Sunday Times - UK (2021-11-28)

(EriveltonMoraes) #1

The Sunday Times November 28, 2021 7


eration over one would set
the tone for a some-
times niggly first half.
There was some
extended arguing over the distance
of a long Villa wall as Young prepared
for a free kick a little way outside the
Palace penalty area. Eventually, the
various defenders and Villa decoys
lined up in their legitimate places
before an anticlimax. After all the rig-
marole, Bailey directed the free kick
into the wall.

LEAGUE TWO


Forest Green Rovers
moved six points clear
at the top. They won
2-0 in their West
Country derby against
Bristol Rovers despite
having Udoka Godwin-
Malife sent off in the
63rd minute. Jamille
Matt scored both
goals, the second from
the penalty spot.,
Northampton Town
replaced Exeter City in
second place after
Sam Hoskins hit the
only goal at Leyton
Orient. Exeter were
held 1-1- at in-form
Rochdale. Jake Beesley
hit a post with a first-
half penalty for the
home side.
Swindon Town’s five-
match winning run
ended with a 1-1 draw
against Harrogate
Town. Jack Payne
scored their late
equaliser from the
spot.
Oldham, who parted
company with
manager Keith Curle
last week, lost 2-0 away
to Salford City, while
Sutton United are a
point from the
automatic promotion
places after their 1-0
defeat of Barrow.

second-half winner in
Blackburn Rovers’ 1-0
victory away to Stoke
City. It was their fifth
win in seven matches
lifting them to fourth.
Chris Wilder secured
his first success as
Middlesbrough
manager, 2-1 away to
Huddersfield Town.
Their first win in six
matches came through
a Duncan Watmore
double. Luke Daniels’s
own goal arrived too
late for the home side.
Lukas Jutkiewicz’s
late goal gave
Birmingham City their
first win in four games,
1-0 against Blackpool.
The most exciting
thing about
Peterborough United’s
0-0 draw with Barnsley
was a power failure ten
minutes from time that
halted the game for
20 minutes.

PRESTON NORTH END
Evans 72 1

FULHAM
Ream 15 1

Villa were to master their next
dead-ball routine. Young lifted a cor-
ner towards the twin targets of Ollie
Watkins, and behind him, Targett.
Watkins stumbled under a challenge,
Targett brought the ball down with an
imperfect touch, but with enough
control and space to direct an angled
shot past Vicente Guaita.
At the other end, Palace’s principal
threat was meanwhile contained. Wil-
fried Zaha had provided a moment of
brilliance early on, taming a pass from
Michael Olise on the half-turn and,
switching direction twice, left Ezri
Konsa and Matty Cash grounded. He
then dragged his left-footed effort
wide.
From then on, Zaha and Palace
were frustrated. Zaha was booked
after a confrontation with Cash, and
with 20 minutes left he gave way to
Odsonne Édouard. Shortly after, Pal-
ace’s exasperation grew. Briefly Villa
thought they were down to ten men,
Luiz shown the red card for a late,
high tackle on Cheikhou Kouyaté. On
a second look, via VAR, the referee
Michael Salisbury changed his deci-
sion to a booking.
Palace would register their first
shot on target with only 11 minutes of
the 90 remaining, Christian Benteke’s
overhead attempt comfortably
clutched by Emi Martínez. Édouard
then tested Martínez a little more rig-
orously, the busy Conor Gallagher
having found a way through.
If that hinted at an equaliser,
McGinn dampened home hopes with
Villa’s second, a handsome finish
from the Scot after a slick move, initi-
ated by Targett and accelerated by
Anwar El Ghazi. Gerrard has been
encouraging McGinn to be bold,
from distance, and is evidently an
admirer of the midfielder. “He’s a
ball of energy,” the manager said.
“It’s infectious.”
Palace, stronger in the second
half with Eberechi Eze returning to
action after a long absence and Édou-
ard and Jordan Ayew adding some
vim, did score a consolation goal. But
by the time Guéhi, stretching to push
Kouyaté’s cross past Martínez, struck
there was too little time left to mount a
full comeback.

Handball controversy denies furious Silva


but with no VAR in the Championship,
the goal stood and three points had
turned into one, with Silva unhappy
with the referee Chris Kavanagh.
“We started to lose some energy
and our reaction second half was not
the best,” Silva said. “But even in
this situation, the goal came
from a big mistake from the
referee and the linesman.
“It was a clear foul on
the goalkeeper and a
handball. It’s difficult for
us to accept something
like that. We had a bad
performance in the second
half and so did the referee.
We lost three points and it was
not our fault.”
It was all looking good for Fulham.
Jean Michael Seri sent over a delicious
free kick, which was begging to be put
in and the captain Ream obliged for
his first goal since 2017.
However, anyone expecting them
to kick on and dominate would have
been disappointed as they became
sloppy and disjointed, which allowed

Preston to grow. Just after the restart,
Antonee Robinson was lucky as his
scissors challenge on Tom
Barkhuizen resulted only in a yellow
card, with the Preston man hobbling
off minutes later. But that acted as a
catalyst for the home side to pin
Fulham back and they were
rewarded with Evans’s
equaliser.
“The goal was the least
we deserved from the
second half, although
there was a bit of
controversy about it,” said
Frankie McAvoy, the
Preston head coach.

Star Man Emil Riis (Preston).
Preston (3-5-2): D Iversen 6 — S van den Berg 7, L
Lindsay 6, A Hughes 6 (G Cunningham 90+4min) —
T Barkhuizen 6 (J Storey 53, 5), A McCann 6, B
Whiteman 6, A Browne 6, J Earl 6 — E Riis 8, S
Maguire 5 (C Evans 60, 6).
Booked Van den Berg, Evans.
Fulham (4-2-3-1): M Rodak 6 — D Odoi 7, T Ream 6,
T Adarabioyo 6, A Robinson 6 — J M Seri 6 (B
Decordova-Reid 69, 3), H Reed 6 — H Wilson 6, F
Carvalho 5 (A Knockaert 81), N Kebano 6 (J Onomah
69, 4) — A Mitrovic 5. Booked Robinson, Onomah.
Referee C Kavanagh.

Marco Silva was left frustrated by his


team’s second-half display but more so


by a controversial goal as Fulham


dropped points for the second time in


less than 72 hours.


Having drawn with the bottom club


Derby County on Wednesday night,


they managed only a share of the


spoils again from their trip to


Lancashire. Hanging on after Tim


Ream’s 15th-minute goal, Fulham were


eventually pegged back by the


substitute Ched Evans’s equaliser.


It was the use of the hand by


Preston North End’s Emil Riis in


blocking Evans’s header before the


Welshman bundled in the rebound


that caused such annoyance, along


with a possible foul on the goalkeeper


Marek Rodak. TV replays captured it,


ROB NEWELL

McGinn
celebrates a
handsome finish
from a slick Villa
move, which
delighted
Gerrard, below

FOOTBALL


LEAGUE


FOCUS


The Sunday Times November 28 , 202


Carroll scores
Reading’s second
goal at Swansea

Adam Lanigan


Handel’s Messiah will
have a Christmas
outing in Cardiff next
month, although
Cardiff City fans could
have been excused for
an early rendition of
the Hallelujah Chorus
yesterday when their
side scored a first-half
league goal for the first
time this season in their
2-1 win away to Luton
Town (Peter Wilson
writes). Whether or not
Rubin Colwill will reign
for ever remains to be
seen, but he was
certainly the king for
the Cardiff travelling
contingent with his
tenth-minute header.
Jordan Clark
equalised for the home
side midway through
the second half, but

Sean Morrison’s header
secured the points.
Hull City made it four
wins in a row, with a 2-1
victory over Millwall.
George Honeyman and
Tom Bradshaw
exchanged first-half
goals before Ryan
Longman’s decider.
Andy Carroll scored
his first goal in almost a
year and Danny
Drinkwater his first in
nearly four years as
Reading won 3-2 away
to Swansea City.
Jamie Paterson fired
the home side in front,
with Tom Dele-Bashiru
replying immediately.
Carroll, who has signed
on a short-term deal
with Reading, put
them in front with a
deflected shot. Ryan
Manning volleyed
Swansea level before
Drinkwater’s clincher.
Reda Khadra struck a

CHAMPIONSHIP


ROUND-UP


LEAGUE ONE


Plymouth Argyle lost
for the third successive
match, 2-1 at home to
promotion rivals Wigan
Athletic. Callum Lang’s
90th-minute strike
lifted the visiting side
into second place.
Rotherham United
remain top but only on
goal difference. They
extended their
unbeaten run to 16
matches in all
competitions, after
they were held 0-0
away to a depleted
Oxford United.
Sheffield
Wednesday went a
tenth match unbeaten
but they dropped out
of the play-off places
after a 2-2 draw with
Wycombe Wanderers.
The match had to be
held up to allow a
spectator to receive
medical attention.
MK Dons were the
beneficiaries as two
Matt O’Riley goals
lifted them into the
play-off spots with a
4-0 win away to
Morecambe.
Jack Tucker’s
stoppage-time own
goal gave Portsmouth a
1-0 victory away to
Gillingham, It was their

sixth straight win in all
competitions.
Sunderland moved
up to fifth with a 2-1 win
away to Cambridge
United, where Nathan
Broadhead’s powerful
strike was decisive.
Charlton Athletic’s
six-match unbeaten
run ended with a 1-0
defeat at Shrewsbury
Town. Daniel Udoh hit
the stoppage-time
winner.

1


Accrington Stanley’s
1-0 win at Lincoln City
was manager John
Coleman’s first league
win there in nine
attempts

Jamille Matt scored
twice for Forest Green
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